Abstract ERIA: A Web Language for Conceptual Metadata Integration and Abstraction in the Large

Conceptual schema integration can be exploited at the conceptual metadata level to provide organizations that deal with a large amount of data sources with an integrated view on the overall information managed. In this paper we discuss the kind of language that can be exploited for such conceptual-level integration tasks in the large, and we introduce the ER dialect called Abstract ERIA (AERIA). The introduction of such a language is based on theoretical considerations and on past experiences in conceptual schema integration. The language is provided with a Web compliant front-end concrete syntax based on OWL-DL to support the compact design of the schema and the definition of integration and abstraction relations between the schema elements. A formal semantic interpretation of the AERIA language is discussed; this interpretation allows for a translation of AERIA schemas into standard Web ontologies to support model reuse and exchange. Copyright 2009 ACM.